The president said the Justice Department’s inspector general is ill-equipped to probe allegations that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was improperly used to monitor members of his transition team.

“Will take forever, has no prosecutorial power and already late with reports on Comey etc. Isn’t the I.G. an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers? DISGRACEFUL!”

Why is A.G. Jeff Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate potentially massive FISA abuse. Will take forever, has no prosecutorial power and already late with reports on Comey etc. Isn’t the I.G. an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers? DISGRACEFUL!

The dust-up comes one day after the attorney general announced his department’s internal watchdog would look into Trump’s claims that Obama administration officials misused their surveillance powers to track his associates following the 2016 presidential race.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Tuesday she believed Trump “certainly supports the decision to look into what we feel to be some wrongdoing.”

“I think that's the role of the Department of Justice, and we're glad that they're fulfilling that job,” she said.

Sessions defended himself later Wednesday, saying the inspector-general investigation is "the appropriate process that will ensure complaints against the department will be fully and fairly acted upon if necessary."

"As long as I am attorney general, I will continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor, and this department will continue to do its work in a fair and impartial manner according to the law and constitution," he said in a statement, which did not mention Trump by name.

Michael Horowitz, the Justice Department inspector general, was confirmed to his position during the Obama administration in 2012.

But he also received political appointments under President George W. Bush and is seen by people who know him as an independent voice.